[MOD] Distant Stars - Rebellion Alpha 0.13 Released! [17/06/13]

Published on January 5, 2009 By Nacey In Sins Modding

Article Link

Feedback of any kind is always welcome. Ideas, balance changes, and bug reporting of any kind is always useful!

Version 1.00 Released!

Make sure to ask for permission before republishing any part of this mod to the public!

Downloads

Rebellion Logo

1.05 + DLC Compatible:

0.12 ALPHA Release:
Full Download:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/rebellion/Distant_Stars_(R)_ALPHA_0.13_[45189661].7z

Full Download MIRROR:
http://www.moddb.com/downloads/distant-stars-rebellion-alpha-013

MD5: 69486D2FCD3F35E46E6F5EF8C9F1634A

Diplomacy Logo

1.34 Compatible:

1.01 Release:
Full Download:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/diplomacy/Distant_Stars_(D)_1.01_[45685832].7z

1.051 Compatible:

Beta 0.9951 Release:
Full Download:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/entrenchment/DS_Entrenchment_Beta_0.9951_[36672852].7z

1.14 - 1.181 Compatible:

Version 1.01:
Full Download:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/soase/Distant_Stars_v1.01_[453701567].7z

Make sure to ask for permission before republishing any part of this mod to the public!

Multiplayer Games:
We've setup a thread for everyone to organise their multiplayer games in and also setup example times and dates for most people to meet up and start games. These are what we hope to be the main times for people to be around and want to play games together.

The times are:
4pm EST (9pm GMT) Saturdays & Sundays
9pm EST (2am GMT) Saturdays & Sundays

If you want to organise other games please go ahead using the same topic to consolidate all the information in one place and hopefully get more games together within our community. These games are for PvP, PvAI & PvPvAIso come along and we'll get some games going!

Screenshots:
We've setup a thread so you can all post your screenshots to share with us the Distant Stars team and its players. Im sure we're all intrigued to see what kinds of battles and events you've all been having on the mod aswell.

Lore:
We know some of you guys love to role play whilst using Distant Stars, and here's a topic for you guys to post all of your role playing stories, character profiles and anything else you can imagine.

Maps:
Some of you avid map makers out there have produced some great maps but never really had them recognised because they've got lost. Well here's a topic for you to post a link to the download (we can even provide mirrors if necessary) a screenshot or two of the map for us all the preview and if enough people like it we'll even include the map in with the actual mod!

Please visit our website and for more information, change logs, downloads, and to report bugs. Our website can be found here: http://distantstars.mmobase.com

Bug Reporting

If you want to report a bug please use the Bug Report feature on our website:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/?m=reportabug

Please include as much information as possible, if you have an error log feel free to post it on these forums and we'll take it from there. If you can reproduce the error please include the error log (read below to find out how to enable error logs) and include as much detail on how to reproduce the problem.

To enable logging:
Windows Vista/Windows 7:
C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting
or
Windows XP:
C:\Documents and settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting

Open the user.setting file (using Notepad, Wordpad or any text editor) and scroll down to the bottom 7 lines from the bottom is the line:
LogOutput FALSE
Change FALSE to TRUE
LogOutput TRUE

and from then on any Log files will be saved to the debug folder:
Windows Vista/Windows 7:
C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Debug
or
Windows XP:
C:\Documents and settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Debug

If you get these log files to us (you can just paste them in to a forum post) we can hopefully get your issues sorted.

Frequently Asked Questions

All files are compressed using 7Zip to shrink the download filesize. To extract these files you must use WinRAR or 7Zip.
Any Patches should overwrite the original install directory, either by extracting over the original folder, or cut/copy & pasting over the existing file/folder structure.

1) My game keeps crashing, is there anything I can do to stop it?
i) Are you running the game on maximum (highest) settings? if so, lower them to High or Medium, there is a known issue with the game using up too much memory, there is nothing we can do about this, also no matter how powerful your pc is, it is affected by this issue no matter the pc it is not above this crashing issue, it is a game problem not a hardware one, so quite simply lower your settings. If you still have an issue with crashing see point two.
ii) Give us as detailed information as possible about the crash, what was happening at the time of the crash, what races, ships, abilities were involved. If you can supply a Debug Log (see above for more information about logging) and post a bug report on our website.

2) The loading screens and portrait pictures dont appear properly, whats wrong?
i) This is an issue with ATI based graphics cards (rarely affects Nvidia based cards) we're looking in to the issue.

3) Why dont you support converting Distant Stars in to TXT format?
i) Quite simply many things can go wrong with converting your mod to TXT, we cant help you with something you've probably broken yourself.

4) Can I mod Distant Stars for myself?
i) Yes you can however please do not distribute our mod or our mod that you have edited to the public. You must ask for permission to do so, we will regrettably stop distributing our mod to all if users abuse our work.

5) Your mod is in BIN format I can't edit the files, what can I do?
i) You can convert the mod to TXT format however we wont offer any support to versions of the mod that have been converted to TXT.

6) Why is Distant Stars distributed in BIN format?
i) Mods load faster in BIN format and are less likely to have issues in this format.

7) I'm having trouble installing the MOD, do you have any more instructions?
i) Carbon was kind enough to do some more advanced instructions out here.

8) Is there any way to make new maps for Distant Stars using GalaxyForge?
i) Within the Distant Stars Extras folder there is a folder called Galaxy Forge, Copy and Paste this folder (or its contents) over your original Galaxy Forge folder (or its contents) replacing any files if it asks you to. When you start Galaxy Forge next you'll be able to use all of our planets.

Or, the DIY approach (without custom icons):

ii) The GalaxyForge supplied by the devs will still work with our Mod, however to be able to access all of our planetary bonuses, templates, planet types and stars you will need to take our GalaxyScenarioDef.galaxyScenarioDef (found in the GameInfo folder of the mod) and place it in to your GalaxyForge folder, overwriting the original GalaxyScenarioDef.galaxyScenarioDef (if you still wish to make maps for the original game keep a backup of the original file). This will allow you to use all of the Galaxy changes included in our mod.

Note: Any maps made for Distant Stars will not work with other Mods. See #8.2 for DIY instructions for map making or take the appropriate files from Entrenchment, they're cross-client compatible.

Some statistics...

Since August 2009 to February 2011 we have had over...

400,000 Unique visits to the website
12,000GB (12TB) of data transferred from our website

That equates to over 60,000 Unique downloads of the entire mod, excluding the excess of 20,000 Patches downloaded.

Thanks to everyone that has supported us this far and making our mod as popular as it is!

dyMRNwSFh9gw

Comments (Page 339)

5071

SivCorp

on May 12, 2011

Found a few errors myself....

The weapon hardpoints are not set up correctly. The front missile pods are shooting beams, the wave cannon points are shooting missiles, and the side beam hardponts don't look to be firing at all.

I see that mesh error, blobness. And I also found that a few points on the rear bridging to the side of the engines have a problem. I think the latter is just normals that have been flipped somehow.

I'm also currious of that "string not found" ability.... Space ponies maybe

I like the summon ship. Good idea! I would make sure it can re spawn if destroyed, so the AI doesn't screw itself over....

I'll look into the mesh and hardpoint issues on the mod soon, but someone else can beat me to it if they have the time. And thanks to everyone who helped with getting this beast in game... It does look WICKED SICK!

EDIT: I also think that it should start with 1 strikecraft squad, and get an extra squad every 2 levels. I put 4 hanger bays in for that purpose.

5072

Ryat

on May 12, 2011

blobness

reply 5070

First - I like the direction here. At first, I was a tad worried about the Flagships coming along that late in the game, but the Hellion, at least, started with stats that were more than capable of keeping pace with enemy capships, even at level one. This is good. The problem is that unique Admiral Shuttle. Its a great concept, and I like the idea behind it but it needs work to be viable when AI players are involved. As far as I can tell, it is destroyable, and I noticed the AI was using them to scout. I also noticed that later on, I was unable to find them. This is mildly unbalancing for the AI players, since near as I can tell the only way to stop a high level Flagship that is being used intelligently is another Flagship. I don't know if theres a way to get them to not use the shuttle until they can turn into a Flagship, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

I am worried about that as well. Not sure how to fix as we have no access to the AI. I did what I could with autocast and whatnot. Will mess with it later.

blobness

reply 5070

Second - Like I said before, I've only played with the Hellion, so I don't know if this applies to other ships as well, but I noticed that it had an ability referred to as "String not Found" that was already capped at level 1 when I got it. I'm assuming it relates to the shuttle in some way, and I don't know if you planned on it being visible.

SivCorp

reply 5071

I'm also currious of that "string not found" ability.... Space ponies maybe

Its the ability that allows the ship to summon the admiral shuttle upon death. Its annoy and even creates an error (a non breaking error) that can't be removed short of removing the ability. I did all I could with it.

SivCorp

reply 5071

EDIT: I also think that it should start with 1 strikecraft squad, and get an extra squad every 2 levels. I put 4 hanger bays in for that purpose.

5073

ZombiesRus5

on May 12, 2011

Ryat

reply 5072

It's still referencing strings and hudicons from my ability.

nameStringID "IDS_ABILITY_NEPHILIM_IMMORTALITY_NAME"
descStringID "IDS_ABILITY_NEPHILIM_IMMORTALITY_DESCRIPTION"
hudIcon "HUDICON_NEPHILIM_CAPITAL_BATTLESHIP_ABILITY3"
smallHudIcon "HUDICON_NEPHILIM_CAPITAL_BATTLESHIP_ABILITY3"

Ryat

reply 5064

There will be more coming as I attempt to make or subcontract for the buttons as well as a possible new model/mash up for the shuttle. Maybe a crossing of the light frigates with bombers? Suggestion welcomed in this matter.

Did you not care for the buttons and icons I made? Granted I'll agree the Kol button was not very good, but I though the advent one and the icons were nice...

Ryat

reply 5072

I am worried about that as well. Not sure how to fix as we have no access to the AI. I did what I could with autocast and whatnot. Will mess with it later.

You can change the AI used though. Perhaps giving the shuttle a different Role Type than light frigate and possible giving it Diplomatic Immunity would be good.

Maybe spawning a command center on start until you research Flagships. Then calling in the escape pod on death in addition to the above.

blobness

reply 5070

And lastly, I'm mildly surprised the "Flagship" string is still being applied to my first capital vessel, but that's just a minor personal nitpick.

Just remove the "Flagship" part from the English.str.

SivCorp

reply 5071

If there are incorrect or missing hardpoints this may affect loading save games for that ship. I.E. not auto firing when you would expect.

5074

Peter1x9

on May 12, 2011

I can't get the flagship minimod to work. Should I install it into its own directory (under Mods-Diplomacy v1.2) and then enable it after the main mod? Or should I be installing it right into the distant stars mod directory?

5075

ZombiesRus5

on May 12, 2011

Peter1x9

reply 5074

Separate directories. Enable the Flagship mod first then Enable Distant Stars Second.

5076

blobness

on May 12, 2011

Regarding the Shuttle Ability, is it impossible to just name it something descriptive like "Admiral on board" or "Escape Pods" or something stupid like that and then leaving it as is, instead of just having a String Not Found?

5077

Peter1x9

on May 12, 2011

Thanks! That's what I did wrong: I had Distant Stars enabled first.

5078

Ryat

on May 13, 2011

blobness

reply 5076

I might seems how I can't get rid of it.

ZombieRus5

It's still referencing strings and hudicons from my ability.

No actually I removed those. As for some of the photos I haven't yet put them in but there is still more to do like with the abilities and such. Unless you did send them over and I didn't see them. Been known to happen.

As for the AI I may attempt that one instead. It would work as well, thx for the tip.

5079

Ryat

on May 13, 2011

@ZombieRus5- lol I really need to look things over better. You did send them all over.

5080

Draakjacht

on May 13, 2011

Okay, ideas for the 6 missing map images. Some are more inspired than others and I have yet to put Carbon's name on his. Feel free to make suggestions or blam any of them.

Working on Stant's and Oranos' icons next. This is a good chance for me to get all that out of the way as no Advent or Vasari player in the lore have made requests. At this point I'm willing to take on a couple extra icons, but I'm reserving it for lore members only. And a sketch would be preferential to a description.

HUD idea might go over the weekend. Was having technical issues with it a while back. Made the game look like grated metal.

Have to poke Rot for models.

edit: Ryat, have you looked at any of the behavior of the starbase constructors to see if they'll help? I know the AI sometimes suicides them, but less often than scouts.

5081

Joebenz

on May 13, 2011

I redownloaded the mods and it now works perfect. I don't know why had this problem. Maybe i didn't correctly installed the patch. Anyway that's history now

5082

Ryat

on May 13, 2011

Don't sweat it Joebenz. Really need Nacey to make that unified by now.

5083

celticfable

on May 13, 2011

I'm finding maps with more than 4 AI's unplayable due to slowdown - even with fleet size set to minimum. Is there any way to edit Distant Stars to change the max fleet size?

5084

TheChronicToast

on May 13, 2011

Are you playing on a speed setting that is faster than Normal? If so you are essentially doubling the amount of calculations your CPU is having to do in the same amount of time ... on Normal and even on Slow speed settings I have not had any problems.

5085

Draakjacht

on May 13, 2011

Do also consider graphics. Skyboxes, a large Empire Tree, and anything set to Very High Graphics will slow you down.

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